Cabul
1:
CABUL (PLACE) [Heb kābûl (כָּבוּל)]. A town in the tribe of Asher (Josh 19:27; 1 Kgs 9:13). Cabul is of great importance for the understanding of the topography of the territory of the tribe of Asher because it is the only place, the name of which has been retained in a modern place name, that is undoubtedly part of the description of the E border of the tribal territory. Other places mentioned in Josh 19:27–28, connected by the conjunctive waw (“and”), are generally considered not to belong to the border description but to have been part of a town list later added to it. Literally the phrase in Josh 19:27 reads “and [Asher’s territory] went out to Cabul from the left.” It has been suggested, however, that “left” should here be understood as “north” (Cooke, Joshua CBSC, 180).
The name Cabul has survived in the name of the village Kabul (M.R. 170252) 14 km SE of Acco, situated on a low W spur of the hills of Galilee. This is with little doubt the ancient Chaboulon/Chabolo mentioned by Josephus as having been burnt by Cestius Gallus (JW 2.1.9), as his own headquarters (Life 43–45), and as the W border of Lower Galilee (JW 3.3.1; there “Zaboulon” should be corrected to “Chaboulon”). It is also the “Kabul” mentioned frequently in Talmudic literature (t. Šabb. 7:17; t. Mo˓ed Qaṭ. 2:5; y. Meg. 4:78b; etc.).
No evidence of Iron Age occupation has been reported from Kabul, however, and Gal (1985) suggests that biblical Cabul be identified at Kh. Ras ez-Zeitun, 1.5 km NE of Kabul. Excavations there have revealed a town 5 acres in extent from the early Iron Age replaced by a fort from the 9th century b.c.e. Cabul’s position between the hills of Galilee and the coastal plain determined its being chosen to demarcate the borders of Asher in Joshua and of Lower Galilee in JW. The border of Asher was apparently to the E of Cabul, thus including the foothills in the tribe’s territory, while the border of Lower Galilee was probably to the W of Cabul at the foot of the hills.
The “land of Cabul” (Heb ˒ereṣ kābûl) is mentioned in connection with the episode in which Hiram king of Tyre received “twenty towns in Galilee” from Solomon (1 Kgs 9:10–14; but cf. 2 Chr 8:2). Various attempts have been made to explain the derogatory meaning implied by the text. Josephus explained that it means “unpleasant” in Phoenician (Ant 8.5.3), and in the Talmud (b. Šabb. 54b) it is explained as “unfruitful.” There is, however, little doubt that the Cabul of 1 Kgs 9:13 is to be identified with that of Josh 19:27, and that the explanation in 1 Kgs 9:13 is etiological in character, either unconnected to the Hiram episode (NHI, 212, n.1), or intended to counteract (or at least soften) the negative political implications of the loss of Israelite territory to Hiram.
The biblical text implies that the “land of Cabul” is identical with the “twenty towns in Galilee.” These are usually presumed to be the towns of the coastal plain that in Joshua 19 are included in the territory of Asher but that are later Sidonian (ANET, 287). However, it is unlikely that this region of important cities would be named after Cabul, a comparatively unimportant town on the periphery. The LXX of 1 Kgs 9:13 renders the MT kābûl (“Cabul”) as Gk Opion (“border”), implying that the original Hebrew was gĕbûl (“border”) or that the translator interpreted it as such. The “land of Cabul” in 1 Kings 9 has therefore been explained as a smaller region in the vicinity of Cabul/Kabul, and the discrepancy of this explanation with the biblical text has been explained either by presuming that part of the original narrative is missing (Alt 1929: 43–44; LBHG, 277) or by separating completely the episode of the land of Cabul from that of the cities in Galilee (NHI, 212, n.1).
Bibliography
Alt, D. A. 1929. Das Institut im Jahre 1928. PJ 25: 5–57.
Gal, Z. 1985. Cabul, Jiphtah-El and the Boundary between Asher and Zebulun in the Light of Archaeological Evidence. ZDPV 101: 114–27.
Rafael Frankel
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:797). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Cabul — how little! as nothing. (1.) A town on the eastern border of Asher (Josh. 19:27), probably one of the towns given by Solomon to Hiram; the modern Kabul, some 8 miles east of Accho, on the very borders of Galilee.
(2.) A district in the north-west of Galilee, near to Tyre, containing twenty cities given to Hiram by Solomon as a reward for various services rendered to him in building the temple (1 Kings 9:13), and as payment of the six score talents of gold he had borrowed from him. Hiram gave the cities this name because he was not pleased with the gift, the name signifying “good for nothing.” Hiram seems afterwards to have restored these cities to Solomon (2 Chr. 8:2).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
CABUL
1. Asherite town near Mt Carmel on the border between Israel and Tyre (Jos 19:27).
2. Territory given to Hiram, king of Tyre, by Solomon in exchange for a gift of 120 talents (9,000 pounds, 4 metric tons) of gold for completion of the temple. Hiram, not impressed with this northern Galilean province (1 Kgs 9:13–14), later returned it to Solomon (2 Chr 8:2).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (243). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
CA´BUL (kaʹbul; perhaps “sterile, worthless”), i.e., fettered land (Heb. kebel, “a fetter”).
1. A city on the E border of Asher, at its N side (Josh. 19:27), probably identical with the village of Kabul, nine miles SE of Acre.
2. A district of Galilee, containing twenty “cities,” which Solomon gave to Hiram, king of Tyre, in return for services rendered in building the Temple. When Hiram saw them he was displeased, and he said, “‘What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?’ So they were called the land of Cabul to this day” (1 Kings 9:13). These cities were occupied chiefly by a heathen population and were probably in bad condition. Or it may have been that, as the Phoenicians were a seafaring people, Hiram would have preferred to have had coastal cities rather than those inland.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
CABUL. Identified with Horvat Rosh Zayit, 1–5 km from mod. village of Kabul, 13 km SE of Acco. Excavations since 1988 have found Iron Age II buildings and a later fortress marking the border between Phoenicia and Israel. It was a frontier village exchanged by Solomon’s treaty with Hiram of Tyre (1 Ki. 9:13) to rectify the border. The name may be a play on words ‘as nothing, defective’ or simply ‘borderland’ (cf. Heb. Yeḇūl).
Bibliography. NEAEHL, pp. 1289–1291; BA 53, 1990, pp. 88–97; BAR 19, 1993, pp. 39–44, 84. d.j.w.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (153). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
6:
Cabul (Heb. kāḇûl)
1. A border town located in the territory of Asher (Josh. 19:27). It is generally associated with the modern Arab town of Kabul (170252) in lower Galilee, ca. 16 km. (10 mi.) SE of Acre. Cabul is the only ancient eastern border town in the territory of the tribe of Asher that retains the same name today.
2. A district in Galilee consisting of 20 towns that was given to Hiram of Tyre by Solomon as remuneration for cedar, cypress timber, and gold (1 Kgs. 9:13). The name Cabul (“unpleasant” or “unfruitful”) connoted Hiram’s displeasure with the area, although the precise meaning of the word is not known. According to an alternate version of the story, it was Solomon who received the towns from Hiram (2 Chr. 8:2), but the version in 1 Kings is considered more authentic.
John Fotopoulos
Caesar (Gk. Kaisar)
Originally the family name of Julius Caesar, it was assumed upon adoption into the family of Julius by the first three emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. Claudius, a grandson of Augustus, was not adopted into the Julian clan and began a new tradition when he took the name Caesar as a cognomen and kept his own family name. Subsequent emperors followed suit, taking the name Caesar either on accession or when adopted or appointed heir apparent. The family name thus became a mark of status. In 285 Emperor Diocletian bestowed the title “Caesar” (junior emperor) on Maximian. When Diocletian later elevated Maximian to senior emperor (Augustus), they each appointed junior emperors (Caesars).
Caesar is the title by which the NT refers to the emperors: Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberius Caesar (3:1), Claudius Caesar (Acts 17:7). Jesus affirmed paying taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:17–21 par.). At Jesus’ trial, Jewish leaders accused Pilate of not being “Caesar’s friend” (John 19:12), and the priests asserted they had “no king but Caesar” (v. 15). Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal his case to Caesar (Acts 25:10–12), and he refers to “Caesar’s household” (Phil. 4:22).
Bibliography. C. Scarre, Chronicle of the Roman Emperors (London, 1995).
Scott Nash
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (206). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
